Wake Cumtux Coulee, lol
A Chinuk Wawa place name that’s a pun!
Central Washington’s Wake Cumtux Coulee can be taken either as two or as three words of Chinook Jargon.
Wake Cumtux Coulee, at center (image source: page 12 of “A Geological Reconnoissance [sic] in Central Washington“ by Israel Cook Russell (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1893))
Three words –“Don’t Know How to Run” / “Can’t Run”.
Records of this name extend back to the immediate post-frontier period, the 1890’s.
I haven’t found enough documents to show why it was named so.
Still, we can notice, and smile.
Weykt, I’m coming from the perspective of a student of Secwepemc place name studies, and I am wondering if a more accurate interpretation of “Wake Cumtux Coulee” might be ” “Don’t know where this goes” or “this trail ends here”. Having had to pick the Gaelic, low French, michif and Algonquin out of many supposed Tsinukw (Chinook) place names and descriptors, I am wondering if “wake” isn’t pilfered from Iroquoian word for “place on the rapids” –wak-e (hard g for K, and the e sounds like “eh”) as in Kahnawake; are there a rapids below the site?
Hi Judy, hayu masi for your thoughts. My reaction would be that the Iroquoian element you’re proposing is typically at the end of words in those languages — presumably it’s a suffix or else roots come at the end of words there — so it’d be hard to square with “Wake Cumtux” for me. But I love the new idea from you about how to understand this place name. Does anyone out there have more information on the origin of “Wake Cumtux Coulee”??
Dave R.
PS, I’m a student of names also, and I would really enjoy hearing more about Secwepemc place names. Maybe some even involve a bit of Chinook Jargon?